Harry Reid: I feel sorry for John Boehner

Reid and Boehner haven’t sat down one-on-one for months, although their staffs keep the lines of communication open. And House members close to Boehner are all over the place in their interpretations on whether there is even a relationship between the two.

“They have a very good personal relationship. They can communicate. They understand posturing,” explained Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa).

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“The relationship is probably hard to be frosty when there is no relationship,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). “When Sen. Reid, with that much experience, resorts to third-grade tactics, it’s not a good sign.”

Chaffetz added that Boehner rarely tweaks the majority leader publicly, and he certainly doesn’t use the floor as a venue to do so.

“I’m proud of the fact that I don’t think Speaker Boehner would resort to such third-grade tactics,” Chaffetz said.

“They’ve exchanged a few choice words on a couple of occasions over the years,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.). “But I think in the end, the speaker’s a consummate professional. He doesn’t burn bridges … but he has a long memory.”

Reid is on the offensive because he doesn’t believe there’s any consequence to their relationship, aides say, and has stepped up his public reprimands of the speaker this week commensurately in hopes Boehner will relent on the Senate immigration bill.

But Boehner’s office says Reid’s “temper tantrum” is directly linked to the student loans fight in the Senate. Reid has been unable to get his entire caucus behind any one plan on the issue, leading Republicans to believe they have the upper hand after rates on some loans doubled on July 1.

“This is what Sen. Reid does when he backs himself in a corner and realizes he has no good options. On the student loan thing, he’s got to be frustrated he got undercut by the White House and can’t get his own members to consensus,” a House GOP leadership aide said.

But the GOP’s assertion that it has acted on the issue is hogwash, Reid says, because the House’s bill has drawn a presidential veto threat.

“Speaker Boehner has said that the House has acted and now the ball is in the Senate,” Reid said Tuesday. “What is he talking about?”

Reid’s rhetoric belies that when the next crisis falls in Congress’s lap, the two men actually do have a professional relationship to fall back on, Cole said.

“I think there is,” he said. “They’re both pretty tough negotiators; they’re pretty hardball political players. But I think they respect one another personally.”